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About Jerry Alatalo

"The first peace, which is most important, is that which comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."
- Black Elk, Sioux Holy Man
May the circle of brotherhood and friendship travel around the world.

My son, your birth began on the day American and British warplanes started to bomb Afghanistan. I cried out of joy and fear. You were born at 04.05 GMT, in Manchester whilst the American and British warplanes were reloading for another bloody sortie. Alas my son, you had to be born into America’s ‘war on terror’. A war, we have been promised, like no other we have ever seen – one without end.

Now my son, you have come into a world, where millions of hungry are fleeing in terror, from those who claim they are out to defend freedom and civilisation. You have been born in a world in which a white life is worth more than a black one; a world in which American life, is worth more than a country and even perchance the…

Words of wisdom from Asad Zaman in Pakistan, suggesting the question: “While fantastic that truth and awareness has become global, how will humanity respond, what good solutions will become presented, upon learning such disturbing, vital, and massively-consequential facts?”

The vision of a government of the people, by the people and for the people is enchanting, and powerfully attractive to the masses yearning to be free. However, the title of Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz’s article, Of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1% is a far more accurate description of the reality of US democracy. Prophetically, Eisenhower had warned against the threat to democracy posed by the powerful military-industrial complex. Today the power of a tiny minority to control the US, and thence the world, exceeds his worst nightmares.

In 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled to allow corporations to spend money on political campaigns. In 2014, the Supreme Court removed certain limits from such political spending, effectively making it legal for corporations to buy elections. It is now reported that industrialist mega-donors, the Koch brothers, are planning spend close to a billion dollars to fund their…

On Thursday, Greg Sargent of The Washington Post examined the most contentious and disturbing aspect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that President Obama has been pushing along with his corporatist allies in the Republican Party. A provision known as the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) would essentially allow multinational corporations to circumvent the environmental, labor, and consumer laws of participatory countries by creating a super-national arbitration process where such businesses could seek compensatory damages for unrealized profits. The effect of this provision would obviously subordinate the sovereignty of nation-states to an unelected global authority, and would weaken the ability of free peoples to govern themselves as they see fit. Furthermore, corporate-friendly ISDS rulings would leave taxpayers financially liable.

Sargent referenced a letter recently sent to the Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress by five highly respected legal experts which expressed their grave concern about the…

After referring to David Korten’s 1994 book “When Corporations Rule the World” in comments on articles about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for the book’s and Mr. Korten’s prophetic nature, it seemed possibly beneficial to find any recent talks by him. Fortunately a 1-hour, 20-minute talk on Earth Day April 22, 2015 at Seattle University was found on Todd Boyle’s YouTube channel, and that is the topic of this post.

Posted on February 2, 2015

by Jerry Alatalo

“Not one statesman in a position of responsibility has dared to pursue the only course that holds out any promise of peace, the courage of supra-national security, since for a statesman to follow such a course would be tantamount to political suicide.”

Last written words of ALBERT EINSTEIN (1879-1955) – German born, Swiss-American scientist

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The scientist and intellectual known world-wide left this Earth and humanity with the message of an international military/security organization being the only course to peace. After the sixty years since the passing of Albert Einstein, has the time arrived for humanity to seriously consider his thoughtful suggestion?

Whether the peace development concept Einstein offered in his last days gets called a military or law enforcement/police force is a small consideration in contrast to the very significant positive benefits of establishing such a force. Nearly every man or woman having an awareness…

On Dec. 7, 1964, days before he received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, King gave a major address in London on segregation, the fight for civil rights and his support for Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. The speech was recorded by Saul Bernstein, who was working as the European correspondent for Pacifica Radio. Bernstein’s recording was recently discovered by Brian DeShazor, director of the Pacifica Radio Archives. Today is the federal holiday that honors King.

But what he perceived very clearly and did his utmost not to perceive was this qualifying and discouraging fact, that the war monster was not nearly so disposed to meet him as he was to meet the war, and that its eyes were fixed on something beside and behind him, that it was already only too evidently stretching out a long and shadowy arm past him towards Teddy – and towards Hugh….

The young are the food of war…

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Was there no Greater Peace possible; not a mere recuperative pause in killing and destruction, but a phase of noble and creative living, a phase of building, of discovery, of beauty and research? He remembered, as one remembers the dead, dreams he had once dreamt of…

‘It is incomprehensible to me that the leaders of major corporate interests who stand to gain enormous financial benefits from this agreement are actively involved in the writing of the TPP while, at the same time, the elected officials of this country, representing the American people, have little or no knowledge as to what is in it,’ Sanders said in a letter (pdf) sent Monday to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. ‘Members of Congress must have the opportunity to read what is in the…